There’s few Halloween traditions as beloved as The Simpsons‘ annual “Treehouse of Horror” specials, despite the fact that these episodes might not debut until November. Additionally, with the series having been on the air for nearly four decades, the anthology installments that parody beloved horror movies have run out of a lot of titles to pay homage to, resulting in somewhat diminishing returns.
Horror fans are in luck this year, as we won’t just be getting the all-new “Treehouse of Horror XXXVII,” but we’ll also be getting “Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening,” another episode devoted to the horror genre. The special was confirmed with the release of an official poster, which you can see below. The episode premieres on Fox this Sunday, October 18 and will be available on Hulu the next day.
The new episode is described, “All hell breaks loose on Halloween when a killer comes to Springfield and hacks their way through town. No Simpson is safe from… THE REVENGENING!”
Fox has also released a batch of images from the official “Treehouse of Horror XXXVII,” which you can see at the bottom of the page. That new episode is described, “In this year’s extra-scary, ultra-spooky Treehouse of Horror, Marge gets a horrifying new perspective on marriage; Bart and Santa’s Little Helper embark on a bone-chilling adventure; and Homer takes a driving lesson in the ‘Treehouse of Horror XXXVII’ episode of The Simpsons airing Sunday, October 25.”
The very first “Treehouse of Horror” episode, which originally aired as “The Simpsons Halloween Special,” debuted in the second season of the series. That episode birthed the idea of “Treehouse of Horror,” as it featured Bart and Lisa telling each other scary stories in their treehouse on Halloween night. While other animated series might occasionally avoid delivering a Halloween-themed episode, The Simpsons has made it an annual event.
Things changed in 2015, though, when The Simpsons released the episode “Halloween of Horror.” Rather than being a series of vignettes, that was a full episode that honored the traditions of Halloween.
That just marked the beginning of a major change in the format for Halloween-themed episodes. In Season 34, we got the episode “Not It,” which was a parody of Stephen King‘s IT. In Season 36, we got the episode “Treehouse of Horror Presents: Simpsons Wicked This Way Comes,” which was another anthology full of three different vignettes.
At this point, it’s currently unknown if “The Revengening” will be a full-length episode honoring slashers or if we’ll get three more vignettes. Given that it has the “Treehouse of Horror Presents” moniker, it would seem likely we’ll be getting three more vignettes.
“Treehouse of Horror Presents: The Revengening” premieres on Fox on Sunday, October 18. “Treehouse of Horror XXXVII” premieres on Fox on Sunday, October 25.
Are you looking forward to the new episodes? Let us know in the comments below!
